Wikipedia Summary for Bruce Lee
Lee Jun-fan (Chinese: 李振藩; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973), commonly known as Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍), was a Chinese American martial artist, actor, director, martial arts instructor and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA).
Lee is considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.
The son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-chuen, Lee was born in the Chinatown area of San Francisco, on November 27, 1940, to parents from Hong Kong, and was raised with his family in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
He was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. His early martial arts experience included Wing Chun, tai chi, street fighting, and boxing, winning the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education at the University of Washington in Seattle; it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts, later drawing significant attention at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships. In the 1970s, his Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in the Chinese nation and Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films dramatically influenced and changed martial arts and martial arts films worldwide.
He is noted for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films in the early 1970s: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Golden Harvest's Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; and Golden Harvest and Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.
Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Chinese nationalism in his films, and among Asian Americans for defying stereotypes associated with the emasculated Asian male. Having initially learnt Wing Chun, tai chi, boxing, and street fighting, he combined them with other influences from various sources into the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).
Lee had residences in Hong Kong and Seattle.
Lee died on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32. There was no visible external injury; however, according to autopsy reports, Lee's brain had swollen considerably. The autopsy found Equagesic in his system. When the doctors announced Lee's death, it was officially ruled a "death by misadventure". Since his death, Lee has continued to be a prominent influence on modern combat sports, including judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing, as well as modern popular culture, including film, television, comics, animation and video games. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.
Balance your thoughts with action. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
Don't pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
The usefulness of a cup is its emptiness.
Martial arts, like any art, is an unrestricted athletic expression of an individual soul.
After all, all knowledge simply means self knowledge.
Efficiency is anything that scores.
In combat, spontaneity rules; rote performance of technique perishes.
Concentration is a form of exclusion, and where there is exclusion, there is a thinker who excludes.
Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.
For something that is static, fixed, dead, there can be a way or a definite path; but not for anything that is moving and living.
Evaluation by others is not a guide for me.
Endurance is lost rapidly if one ceases to work at its maximum.
Have no rigid system in you, and you'll be flexible to change with the ever changing.
I don't want to do anything halfway. It has to be perfect.
The success of an assailant's attack depends on surprise, and if you're sufficiently alert to prevent a surprise, your counterattack is already halfway to being successful.
When you're talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body!
To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself.
Longer Version:
To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do.
What is true stillness? Stillness in movement.
I have the absolute confidence not to be number two, but then I have enough sense to realize that there can be no number one.
The unfolding of the bare human soul...that is what interests me.
Success means doing something sincerely and wholeheartedly.
Jeet Kune Do does not beat around the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a straight line to the objective. Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.
Belts are only good for holding up your pants.
Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.
You and your opponent are one. There is a coexisting relationship between you. You coexist with your opponent and become his complement, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him.
Don't be forecasting evil unless it is what you can guard against. Anxiety is good for nothing if we can't turn it into a defense.
The deluded mind is the mind affectively burdened by intellect. Thus, it cannot move without stopping and reflecting on itself. This obstructs its native fluidity.
The more restricted a method, the lesser the opportunity for one's individual freedom of expression.
True observation begins when devoid of set patterns; freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond system.
Art lives where absolute freedom is, because where it is not, there can be no creativity.
I do not fear the man who practices 1,000 kicks one time each. I fear the man who practices 1 kick 1,000 times.
But to those who kept saying
It can't be done,
Never are the victories
Or the honors won.
But, rather,
By the believing, doing kind,
While the doubters
Watched from far behind.
In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup.
Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty.
A good fighter must sense rather than perceive his chance to strike.
Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart.
If I should die tomorrow, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. You can't expect more from life.
The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front, but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups.
An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. It is not satisfied with explanation, with conclusions. Nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another form of conclusion.
It is better to live as a broken piece of jade, than to live as a useless clay.
An instructor should exemplify the things he seeks to teach. It will be of great advantage if you yourself can do all you ask of your students and more.
Use karate, judo, aikido, or any style to build your counter-offensive. It will be interesting!
If there is always light, you don't experience light anymore. You have to have the rhythm of light and darkness.
I have always been a martial artist by choice, an actor by profession, but above all, am actualising myself to be an artist of life.
I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves.
Longer Version:
I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves. It is futile to argue as to which leaf, which design of branches, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.
A quality martial artist is always ready for any move, and trains oneself invincible.
I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies.
Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.
To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery.
I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.
Understanding comes about through feeling, from moment to moment in the mirror of relationship.
Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.
Longer Version:
Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better. As the great Sun Tzu said: “When you know yourself and your opponent, you will win every time. When you know yourself but not your opponent, you will win one and lose one. However, when you do not know yourself or your opponent, you will be imperiled every time.
Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else's view or a mere book.
There's only one basic principle of self-defense- you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.
A man must constantly exceed his level.
The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flowers or weeds, will grow.
It is not what happens that is success or failure, but what it does to the heart of man.
More and more I believe in the fact that you have two hands and two legs, and the thing is how to make good use of yourself -- and that's about it.
Remember, Life is a journey, not a destination.
As long as we separate this oneness into two we won't achieve realization.
The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.
My strength comes from my abdomen. It's the center of gravity and the source of real power.
If your opponent is at a distance, kick him in the groin. If he gets close, poke him in the eyes, bring up your knee, pop him with an elbow, dig a corkscrew punch to his stomach.
The less confident we are in ourselves, the less we are in touch with ourselves and the world, the more we want to control.
Go toward self-actualization rather than self-image actualization... Search within... for honest self- expression.
In building a statue, a sculptor doesn't keep adding clay to his subject. Actually, he keeps chiseling away at the nonessentials until the truth of his creation is revealed without obstruction.
Turn your sparring into play -- but always play seriously.
Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.
Running water never grows stale.
We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we create.
Longer Version:
We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We cannot derive a sense of absolute certitude from anything which has its roots in us. The most poignant sense of insecurity comes from standing alone and we are not alone when we imitate. It is thus with most of us; we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.
Meditation means to be free from all phenomena and calmness means to be internally unperturbed. There will be calmness when one is free from external objects and is not perturbed.
Quotes by Bruce Lee are featured in:
Creativity Quotes
Inspirational Quotes
Life Quotes
Motivational Quotes
Nature Quotes
Simplicity Quotes
Words Of Wisdom Quotes
Paradise Quotes
You Yourself Quotes
Self-Discovery Quotes